Communicating the economic value of customer ownership in insurance: A qualitative analysis of annual reports

Its distinctive ownership base leads to a customer‐owned mutual insurer representing a mission and purpose of existence that are very different from those of an investor‐owned insurer. While the owner value of the latter can be defined in terms of return on invested capital, in mutuals, the attention is shifted toward benefits and value for customers. Despite this major difference, scholars know little about mutual insurers' value‐creating processes. To begin filling this knowledge gap, the article explores and identifies how managers of mutual insurance companies understand and communicate the economic value of ownership to their customer–owners and other stakeholders. It reports on thematic analysis of annual reports of 18 mutuals, based in seven countries (England, Finland, Ireland, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States), on the basis of which the authors offer a tentative framework for enhancing scholars' and practitioners' understanding of how the economic value of ownership is understood in a customer‐owned mutual insurance company.     

Reinforcing collectiveness in entrepreneurial interactions within start-up teams: a multiple-case study

ABSTRACT

Using a qualitative multiple-case study approach and data from four high-technology team startups, we elaborate a theory on organizing entrepreneurial actions as team efforts and the kinds of interactions that reinforce collectiveness amongst entrepreneurial teams. Through systematic thematic analysis, we find that entrepreneurial action reinforces collectiveness through and during (a) the joint analysis and planning of entrepreneurial opportunities and strategies, (b) the joint decision-making and realization of opportunities and (c) the evaluation, feedback and sanction of entrepreneurial action. We analyse the dimensions through Giddens’s ideas on the duality of structures and agencies. We identify interactions that reflect a joint elaboration of opportunities, open and continuous sharing of knowledge and feelings, equality and democracy, joint effort and credit, informality and lack of bureaucracy, and feedback and helping. Our insights could be applied to create collectively entrepreneurial teams and to design education and training activities at a macro level to enable regional development.     

Employee knowledge and the effects of a deferred profit‐sharing system: A longitudinal case study of personnel funds in Finland

We explain the special features of the Finnish profit‐sharing system and explore what outcomes this deferred plan has for the company under longitudinal conditions. We measure changes in employee attitudes, effects of the system, and, in particular, the changes in the employee's pay knowledge before and after the combination of a deferred profit‐sharing system with a cash‐based one. Statistical analyses are preceded by qualitative analyses of interview data to provide the reader with an understanding of the context. Even though the employees' pay knowledge has increased and they perceive that they get more feedback on company key ratios, there still is a need for human resource management and managers to provide training and enhance discussions on the pay system for both supervisors and subordinates. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Employee stock option plans and stock market reaction: evidence from Finland

This paper examines whether the adoption of stock option plans results in changes in shareholders’ wealth, and whether the stock market reactions to ESOP announcements could be explained by the target group of ESOP and the dilution effect. Short-horizon test methods are applied for this purpose. The sample consists of ESOP announcements of Finnish publicly quoted companies on the Helsinki Stock Exchange during the time period 1988–1998. The event study results show a slightly positive market reaction to announcements of ESOPs targeted to management and a negative market reaction in the case of ESOPs targeted to all employees. The results of regression analysis show that the ESOPs with limited dilution convey positive information to the stock market and the dilution effect has a negative impact on stock returns, especially in the case of ESOPs targeted to all employees.